Wrench



Nov. 17, 1931.

R. L. COCHRANE WRENCH Filed July 10, 1930 FI|5 l FEE-.5-

, .Zwueafor v fiofierfL. Coo/5 rang Patented Nov. 17, 1931 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 ROBERT L. COGHRANE, OF CHICAGO, I LINoIsQAsSIGNoE To NATIONAL LOCK WASHER COMPANY, or NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION on NEW JERSEY WRENCH Application filed July 10, 1930. 'Serial No. 466,940.

wrench being always operated in a vertical plane with the faces engaging the nut.

The object of the present invention is to prevent the wrench from slipping off the nut at the end of the idle movement of the wrench.

The particular form of nut engaging faces and cam surfaces, which release the nut from these faces during the idle or ratchet movement of the wrench are not new, and wrenches having such faces and cams have heretofore been used for the purpose of tightening nuts that are disposed in a hori zontal plane, and wrenches of this description are, of course, operated in a horizontal plane, and at the end of the idle or ratchet stroke of the wrench, the latter will drop by.

gravity so as to cause the nut engaging faces to be properly positioned with respect to the nut.

But the present invention aims to so equip wrenches of this description that they may be used as track wrenches for railroads, it being merely necessary, at the end of the ratchet or idle stroke of the wrench, for the 30 operator to thrust the Wrench inwardly with" his foot so that the wrench engaging faces may be properly positioned with respect to the nut, and as this foot pressure may be always constant, the wrench may be readily operated, after the manner of a rachet wrench, with great facility.

In the accompanying drawings which must be read as a part of this description,

Figure 1 is a face elevation of the wrench*.

Figure 2 a section at the line22 of Figure 1- Figure 3 a view similarto Figure 1, but showing a nut in the process of being driven on a bolt with the nut as it appears at the end of the ratchet or idle stroke of the wrench,

and

Figure 4: a section at the line ,4.4 of Figure 2.

Similar numerals of reference denote like 59 parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The particular style of wrench with which i this invention is identified is known as a box or socketnwrench, which, in the present instance, comprises a handle 1 and a head 2 at the bottom of the handle.

Within this head are integral fiat'or nut engaging'faces 3 which merge into cam surfaces 45, each cam surface being so inclined as to lead outwardly toward a nut engaging face 3. In other words these cam surfaces 4 are slanted from their point 5 of junction with the nut engaging faces 3, at or near the bottom of the head: 2, outward to the outer terminals of the faces 3, so that when a nut is engaged with the faces 3 on the operative stroke and'the handle 1 is carried through a the nut will be driven on its bolt.

011' the return or ratchet movement of the handle the inner parts of the cam surfaces, or, in other words, at their points of junction 5, will comeinto contact with the nut, which will cause the wrench to back off of the nut, until the cam surfaces 1 have been freed from contact with the nut, and

when the handle, on its return or ratchet stroke, has been carried far enough, the faces of thenut will have been brought into alinement with the nut engaging faces 3, whereupon pressure with the foot or hand of the operator against the head 2 will causethe latter to be thrust inwardly so that the faces 3 will again engage the nut preparatory to another eflective movement of the handle.

At Figure3 a nut 6 is shown on a bolt 7, and the handle has been swung so asto back off the head so that the cam surfaces 4 will be entirely clear of the nut, and it will be obvious that a further movement of the handle will bring the faces 3 into alinement with the sides of the nut.

8 is a ring integral with the head and eX tending beyond the faces 3, 4, so that when the head is backed off the nut in the manner above described, the nut will be housed within this ring, so that it cannot leave the of the operator against the outside of the head 2, will cause the head to move inwardly with the faces 3 engaged with the sides of the nut when the handle has been moved far enough to bring these faces and sides into alinement. By the provision of this ring 8 the handle may bemoved forward orbackward in a vertical plane, after the manner .of a ratchet wrench, the cam faces constantly operating to back thewrench off the nut on the idle or ratchet stroke of the handle without any likelihood of the wrench leavingthe nut.

This invention makes a socket or box wrench very desirable as a railroad track wrench, because the nuts always stand in a vertical plane, while at the same time the wrench is operated with great facility after themanner-zof a ratchet wrench.

The ring hereinbefore referred to is really an extension of the head, and is of such depth, beyond the .nut engaging faces and cam surfaces, as to provide a circuinvallation of the nut when the la ter has assumedza positionibeyond said faces and surfaces hat isclaimed is A ratchet wrench comprisinga handle a socket head, alternate nut engaging members and cam faces within said head, and an extension of said socket beyond the outer planes of said; members and faces, the cam faces being inclined outwardly whereby ion the idle movement of the wrench they will en gage the nut and cause the socket head to back off the nut until the latter 'is clear of said members and faces and is contained zwithinisaid extension, the interior of said extension being circular and coinciding with the outer corners of the nut engaging faces, so that the wrench is always maintained aX- ially alined with the nut, and by maintaining axial'pressure on'the wrench durlng the ratcheting stroke assures immediate re-enigagement with the nut faces as soon as they are again alined with the driving faces of the socket.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature hereto.

ROBERT L. COCHRANE. 

